(CN) — California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday the state is poised to investigate police shootings of unarmed residents as a state bill aimed at shedding light on opaque law enforcement investigations of deadly force went into effect this month.
Assembly Bill 1506 was signed into law last September by Governor Gavin Newsom, requiring the state to investigate deadly police shootings of unarmed residents, with the aim to remove conflicts of interest critics say cloud local law enforcement investigations.
California joined a handful of other states already mandating independent review of cases of deadly force. The law requires the Attorney General’s Office to submit a report on each case and if necessary, initiate criminal proceedings.
The law went into effect July 1, once $15.3 million in funding was appropriated under the 2021-22 California budget. The Attorney General’s Office will not retroactively investigate deadly police shootings that happened prior to July 1.
Bonta co-authored the law alongside fellow Democratic Assemblyman Kevin McCarty when he was a member of the state Assembly. He was appointed attorney general by Newsom in March after Xavier Becerra left the spot vacant to become President Joe Biden’s health secretary.
“This effort is personal for me. I heard firsthand the pain so many communities feel in the moments after these incidents. I witnessed the lack of trust that these investigations will be treated fairly by our criminal justice system,” Bonta said during a virtual press conference.
He added: “The tools and procedures we are announcing today are a way to insert more transparency and accountability into these investigations.”
Bonta said Wednesday his office established two California Police Shooting Investigation Teams, called CaPSIT, which will be sent to investigate qualifying shootings when his office is informed by local law enforcement agencies such an incident occurred.
There will be two investigative teams — one stationed in Sacramento and another in Los Angeles — staffed by 27 special agents and six supervisory agents.
Bonta said the two cities were chosen as the home base for the investigative teams based on data showing the most police shootings of unarmed people occur in the Sacramento and Los Angeles areas.
The Attorney General’s Office expects it will investigate between 40 and 50 cases of deadly police shootings of unarmed Californians a year, Bonta said. Once investigations are completed, the matter will be turned over to the DOJ’s Special Prosecutions Section within the Criminal Law Division for review.
Administrative and civil investigations will remain under the purview of local law enforcement agencies.
Also Wednesday, Bonta publicly released the law enforcement bulletin containing definitions and notification requirements for local agencies to comply with AB 1506, the criminal law division’s AB 1506 protocols, the full investigation protocols for police shooting investigative teams, guidelines for outreach to impacted family members and the DOJ’s communications policy for incidents that qualify under AB 1506.
No police shootings are currently listed as under review by the California DOJ.
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